Iim B-ack!

All those who feel that this post has something to do with the Imperial College of Engg (that's the 3-Idiots pseudonym for the Aayee Aai Yembee), I'm sorry to disappoint you. It is just an attention gathering trick learnt from the recent credit 'bhagat' crisis and the likes. Finally, I get to respond to blogger.com which has been waiting for me for the past 9 months (shhh...dont look at the no. of months with suspicion, its just coincidental!) with hopeful eyes. A lot has been 'happening' in my life since I last posted - the second year of my MBA life bringing in many more experiences to remember. (Sole Reader: "Bata bata, kya?" Blogger: "Kabhi detail mein bataunga, when I actually cook up something interesting" :P).

What is this post about intended to be about, then? - Everything...Anything...actually, Nothing! This is just to increase the feel-good factor (finger licking good!) among the dear reader(s) so that he can smile for the 2 minutes that he'll spend on this blog (I said smile, not laugh!...please, please stop laughing at me). It is also to let him know that I'm still alive in this part of the country, and not RIP-ed due to the life threatening attacks by Maoists-doing-net-practice/ Autowallahs-losing-fare-bargains/ Esteemed-faculty/ Peers-just-below-me-in-CGPA/ stray-dogs-looking-for-bones/ readers-who-hate-such-jokes (listed in the order of danger). I know that the flights have been withdrawn from Jamshedpur, our Mao brethren attack vehicles on road, trains get derailed every alternate day (and the other alternate days, they aren't scheduled anyways), but don't worry, 'travelling' has never been listed in the 'Hobbies & Interests' section of my CV. As long as main-aur-meri-tanhai confine ourselves to the safe h(e)aven of my room and the campus, I'm safe (much safer than the fielder at silly point facing an Ajit Agarkar shot coming towards him at a 2mph speed). If I ever feel like venturing out, I rather take the "How well do you know Nalanda ?"(or Sunderbans or Calcutta or Jhumritalaiya) quiz on Facebook, score a 99% there and decide not to leave the campus. (Non-Sticky note: Past performance in the FB quiz is no indicator of future results at MBA quizzes).

Jokes apart, this post is also a means to reduce the guilt that I feel everytime I remove the blog link from my signature only because there are no posts for the receiver to read. The post is also an answer to my fear that blogger.com will send me the following mail shortly:

Please note that we have deleted your blog account due to any or all of the following reasons: 1)inactivity by the owner for a long period 2)insane activity by the owner for a longer period 3) Winner of highest 'Flag grossly inappropriate' votes from readers 4)Mismatch between the blog URL and the owner (and better claimants to the URL) 5) No appropriate response for the question sent to you last week: "Why the [press Shift button] 1235623 [release Shift] did you start a blog?".

PS: Those who are offended by the use of the pronoun 'he' for a reader in this post, I apologize. Because I know that you wont be. Because I know that there isn't any. Because I know from advanced analytics data that the demographics of my reader base is completely skewed (screwed?) AWAY from the fairer sex. *sob, sob*
PPS: Dear XLer, don't search for a smiley [:)] in the post. This is not that cheap a publicity stunt.

The X-Life

I haven't put a title to this post as I start writing this. I don't even know, what would I be writing after this sentence. (I have started this post just like an under-prepared engineering student would attempt a 'Write short note on India's economic growth post-liberalisation' type questions, thinking "fatte hi toh maarne hain"). Agar Big B roz raat ko 1 baje apne adde pe posht kar sakte hain, then mein bhi apne ilaake ka big S hoon (sans the french beard). Btw, I have realised (through my gaajar chabaane-wale jasoos) that my posts have been providing some solace to the mara-hua sense of humour of many of my friends (with my own butter-naan-sense) who were being content till date with the campus jokes on few (un)popular guys/girls and others who thought knock-knock jokes were the biggest blessings to mankind. These are those few occasions which provide exercise to those brushed-twice-a-day, still hatte-khatte (note the rhyme) teeth of my beloved readers. Ok, sorry for so much dindora-peetna, but aajkal adverrtijement ka zamaana hain. As a sincere student of a marketing subject, I couldn't resist myself. [reader : huh, isse achha marketing aur publicity to Rakhi Sawant kar leti hain. Bada aaya !]

Let me share some of my experiences in the past 86 days @XL (for those who are counting from 13 Jun 2008 and finding it out to be 96 - abey, 10 days toh Mumbai mein hoon na!)

[To lengthen the answer, an engineering student intentionally uses a figure/diagram/chart in his short-note :)]. Here it goes...Hostel - One of the most happening places on campus. Be it football, cricket, birthday bumps, night-outs, parties, 'dressing up' for photoshoots, those 'left-outsides' after an adventure camp (XLers know :P), aap-katar-mein-hain duologues for the washing machine (I sometimes feel - ration se chaawal lene bhi itni fight nahi maarni padti hogi, jitna is machine ke peeche daudte hain) and many more - our hostel corridors have seen it all. Talking of rooms, ultra-comfortable [;)]. Humein toh itni neend aati hain, that we feel we are enjoying an air-conditioned suite out there. Waise toh, ek hectic din ke baad, hum toh 8:16 ki mumbai fast local ke darwaaze pe khade khade bhi so jayenge (only mumbaikars can understand the big deal in this joke). And yes, we end up spending more than half the time in some one else's room (you gande dimaag! I meant spent "studying, working on an assignment, solving a case, discussing a concept, preparing for the exams" in our friend's room). Ok, I accept, some of them are (in)famous for being spotted in Girls' hostel, but that is also because, their project groups are allotted such (hehe..As if you are going to believe the previous sentence)

Food - You won't believe, the mess food is so good that I miss that now, and instead am keeping myself happy with the poor old ghar-ka-khana. (Ok, I told you beforehand - 'you wont believe'). But the food is not that bad either. On 2-3 days a week, we long for the dinners and have enough to keep us content for the next 2 days :). The rest of the days, we still have an edible variety of food. I can't tell you the entire menu, but there's one ingredient as critical in the food as the tear drop, TBZ jewellery, or a king-size bungalow in an Ekta Kapoor serial - Potato!! Still wonder why, but the people in this part of the world love potatoes. (I later realized why XL's very own band Bodhi Tree had recorded a song called 'Too many potatoes' ) [Update (Thanks, Mandar!): Paneer is another such precious ingredient that makes its presence felt on most of the days, though it comes second to potato in attendance]. Some of us are loyalty-club wale customers of the canteens (we have 3 other 'paid' joints on campus) and dosa-wala, and end up skipping the mess now and then. God knows why? Talking of canteens, the snacks are available till 3AM, and you will find students from all hostels arriving at all times to catch a bite of the-eternal-maggi (generic product-name for maggi/top-ramen - ek aur marketing jargon de maara!) aloo-sandwich, paratha, mixture, bread-poha, and the like, to be gulped with hot chai or thanda nimbu-paani.(I am still analysing the arrival pattern to find the off-peak hours so that I can get my maggi quicker, and will conclude my research this term)

That's a glimpse of the Life @ XL. Have much more to say about the course, faculty, students, extracurrics, outbound programmes, alumni, library, and loads of activities on campus. Of course, to avoid censorship from the 'stakeholders' and our media cell, (and due to my wish to keep those andar-ki-baat-hain memories to ourselves) I would not be 'revealing' any insider information or XL traditions to you all :) [you can't even buy the info black mein, unless, of course, you are a media hot-shot [shot na bhi ho toh chalegi ;)] and the money that you offer contains more than 6 zeroes succeeding the 1st digit]. Coming soon, to a screen (laptop/desktop wala) near you...

(The bell rings and the invigilator snatches the keyboard away from me. Yaad nahi woh story, jisse start kiya tha - that example of an engineering short note? [Applause] Kya weave kiya hain story ko... [reader] Tu ek din Director zaroor banega - company ka nahi, film ka bhi nahi - roadside tamaashe ka.)